American Apparel Reports Sales Gains

Up 13% Over 2011

Jan 10, 2013 – by Counselor

Counselor Top 40 supplier American Apparel (asi/35297) has announced that its total 2012 sales were $616.7 million, an increase of 13%. The company also reported that its wholesale net sales – which include ad specialties – rose 12% last year. "Good performance was achieved in all our businesses: retail, wholesale and online," said Dov Charney, American Apparel's CEO. "We experienced sales growth in almost all major markets and product categories."

The company closed the final weeks of 2012 with some of its strongest sales numbers of the year. In December, comparable store revenues rose 14%, including a 59% increase in net sales for American Apparel's online channel. Last month, total net sales increased 14% to $63.5 million and wholesale net sales improved 12%. "December represents our 19th consecutive month of positive comparable sales," Charney said. "Our comparable store sales increase in retail and online is particularly important considering our performance last December when we had comparable store sales of 12%."

Los Angeles-based American Apparel is forecasting continued growth this year, strengthened by recent changes to its e-commerce operations. "We believe we can continue making store productivity gains and see comparable same store sales increase in all channels through 2013," Charney said. "We expect to see corresponding improvements in gross margin through leverage of fixed overhead at the factory and store level."

Ranked by Counselor as the 16th largest supplier in the industry, American Apparel reported 2011 North American ad specialty sales of $90.2 million, which represented a 1.8% year-over-year increase.